Mystic Aquarium

University of Southern Maine

Toxicology of metals to marine mammal cells in culture

Marine mammals are exposed to a wide variety of metals that occur naturally and anthropogenically (caused by people) in their environment. Some of these substances are know to be carcinogenic in a variety of other animal species, including humans. Cell cultures derived from exhibited and stranded marine mammals are being immortalized using telomerase. These cell lines are used to create a tissue bank that will allow standardized investigations, among different laboratories, of cellular aspects of toxicology in these species.